One For The Road

40: Dreams, Part 2

I walked into the only sports bar I had gotten to know on a personal level, Gilligan's. Of course, it was far from my favorite place with the way I watched Tyler talk about shit me on one of the TVs, and Truscott's nephew insulted me with an offer to put me back in the spotlight, which I never left, thank you.

But ultimately, there wasn't a better place to collect myself even though I had a long night of driving ahead of me. I swore to myself I wouldn't get carried away, but that rarely worked out for me.

Whether it helped me forget just how much my mind spiraled was yet to be determined. How the hell could Drake do that to me? I was the reason his team was back on track, not Josiah.

There had to be someone decent to talk to there, although I really didn't have much that I wanted to say. But there were plenty of cool people outside of the combat robotics arena, hopefully someone who had a goddamn soul.

"Katie," a voice said, and there weren't really many people in Ontario who were on a first-name basis with me.

Truscott's nephew. Whatever the fuck his name was.

"What are you doing here? Don't you work in Toronto?" I asked.

"My boyfriend lives here in London, and this is one of my favorite places in the city. It's not too crowded, especially on a Sunday," he replied.

His last name wasn't Truscott, so I couldn't even call him that. What was his name? My mind was failing me. Again.

"It's Daniel," he said like he read my thoughts.

I laughed. "I knew that, Danny. Can I call you that?"

"I'd prefer if you didn't. So anyway, you come here alone a lot?"

"Only twice, and you've been here both times, so I'm thinking that you're the one with the problem." I sat down beside him. Even if he was a condescending douche who was related to another condescending douche, he was better company than no one.

He chuckled. "Of course. How's the robot life treating you?"

"It's not anymore. I guess I just got fired again." I shook my head. "But I'm not going to bitch about it to you. I'm afraid you'll put it in an article so the entire world can laugh at how miserable my fucking life is now."

"You know I wouldn't do that to you. People like us have to stick together in this industry."

"People like us?"

"You know, gay."

Close enough. "Look, Danny, there's only one person who's ever stuck with me, and I probably need to give him a call right about now."

"Gallagher, isn't it?"

God, it pissed me off how much he knew about me, but I nodded anyway. "Yep. At this point, I don't think I have much of a choice but to head back to Baton Rouge. Do I even have to say that information's off the record?"

"Don't worry about it, Katie. I'm working on a piece for RTR, but it's not about you. It's about Elizabeth Tonkin."

"You're still working on that?"

"Yes, actually. Roger loves her, and we're looking for her to get a spike in popularity like you, but I don't think it's gonna happen anytime soon," Daniel said.

Roger loved her? Not likely. She was a woman. But I decided to humor him anyway. "Why not?"

"She's a dream for management, but she doesn't appeal to real people the same way someone like you appeals to them. Elizabeth is easy to control, and she comes off as fake. It's quite simple, really."